Has anyone heard of this law recently(?) passed that gives new parents something like 1200euro for a baby born within the last few years? I went to my local caaf office today to inquire about it and they said the law no longer exists. But I'm not sure I trust them because the woman who helped me had to ask two of her coworkers if they're still handing out this subsidy. Neither one seemed to know and finally a third piped in saying this law no longer exists.
I tried to search on the internet but didn't come up with much.
Anyone had any experience with this?

Maybe you should check at your local town hall.

For awhile I was part of the "3 underage childeren/ low earnings/ we will "help" you" situation.

At the time it was something along the lines of 150 Euro a month. Basically the money came when ever they felt like sending it so usually something like every few months and therefore at the end of the day it really isn't a big help because you never know when and if it will arrive.
I did it for one year and then said no more. The people in the office thought I was "crazy" for giving it up but it just seems to be a big "preso per culo".

quote:

it just seems to be a big "preso per culo".

Haha! Too much trouble for what it's worth right? I can relate to that!
I did try the local commune and they said I needed to inquire at the caaf. Boh! Maybe they already allocated all the money they had and decided to repeal the law. It's always like playing the lottery here, sometimes you get lucky and sometimes most of the time, you don't.

The"preso per culo" part for me was that this money is suppose to help relatively "poor" families with at least 3 children. Which is great.... except that you could never count on it because you never knew when the check would arrive.If you knew it would arrive on the 1st of each month you could plan on spending it for the electric bill or something useful. The way it worked for us was every so often we would get a check in the mail - sort of like a surprise gift.... so of course we would just go out for pizza or something (3 kids and a 100 Euro check isn't really going to solve anything).

Having said that if you have the chance to get the lump sum or whatever- go for it.
Where I live they were begging to give this "help" away. Apparently we don't have enough "poor" people in the area - or maybe those that really are poor are to embarrassed to admit it.

Maybe you should go to the town hall and try the "Could I please have the form for" .. don't ask for information, just pretend that the law still exists and you know what you are doing.

I was wondering the same thing...i recently came across this article, dated this August.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/08/10/MNTQ11UVLJ.DTL

they claim the italian government "offers a one time payment of $1500 for having children"

gosh in Sweden both parents are entitled to 18 months' government-paid leave. wow.